Time to Cut.

[ExtraMile]

Right, Iv been on holiday for 3 weeks and over that time I decided that I wana cut down on BF and just keep the muscle mass i already have as my main priority, I've been talkin to TheWest about gaining mass and he gave me somthing like this:
Monday - Squats 5x8, Leg Curls 3x10, OverHead Press - 5x8
Wednesday - Flat Bench 5x8, Incline DB Bench 3x10, CGBP 4x10
Friday - Deadlift 5x10, Bent Over Row - 5x8, 21's 4x21
He said to keep that for 6 months. But I never got to try it because that was like the day before I went on holiday.
Before that my workouts looked somthing like this

Monday - Incline Db Bench, 4x10
Flyes 3x12 -superset- Pullovers 3x15
Flat Bench - 3x10
21's - 3x21
Seated DB Curl - 3x12


Wednesday - Upright Row 3x10 superset- shrugs - 3x15
Lateral Raise,Front Raise, Bent Over Raise (triset)
3x12
Overhead Press - 4x 12,10,8,6
Bent Over Row 4x8
Pull Up 3xfailure
Deadlift 3x10
CGBP 4x10 - superset- SkullCrusher - 4x15


Friday - Front Squats - 5x8 dropset with lighter back squats.
Romanian Deadlift - 4x12
Sumo Style Deadlift - 4x10
Calf Raise - 3x12


Before I had stopped gaining and decided to just do more sets, more exercises, TheWest explained how i was overtraining etc. But now i wana concentrate on loosing bf. Heres my stats:

Age - 14
BF - About 22%
Height - 5"6'
Weight - 148lbs
Build - Broad Shouulders, quite muscular but bit of extra fat around midsection
Arms - 13inch
Arm Length - 27inch
Forearms - 10.5 inch
Legs - 23inch
Calves - 14inch
Shoulder Width - 19inch
Chest - 38inch


My diet used to be shit, but lately Iv changed it and started concentrating keeping healthy, high protein, low fat etc.

I was thinking of doing the 5x5 as its quick and i could do cardio the same day, (build a good base for next year) and then do cardio maybe 4times a week, about half an hour each time. Cardio would be running or cycling.

What dya think?

 

[Rage-Of-Sparta]

use diet and cardio to burn the fat.
use training and weights to build muscle.
this is the best advice i can give a 14 year old.
at this age just concentrate on getting enough quality protein EVERYDAY and concentrate on doing your training EVERYDAY.
CONSISTANCY IS KEY
good luck. hope this helps

 

[SaiBoT]

Check the thread "Journey to a BEAST", there ia a lot of info there.

At your age I wouldn't be doing 21 curls, or drop-sets, or super sets. Straights sets, with compound moves done correctly are the best.

And you shouldn't be worried about the bodyfat that much, you are still growing, feed your body and drink plenty of water it will adjust by itself. You know create good habits for the future!

 

[SouthernLord]

http://www.elitefitness.com/forum/w...xercises-articles-more-start-here-484815.html

Here you go brother. Read everything you can in here. I would start at Madcow's site and really try to take everything in there. You could literally spend 3 hours reading the stuff on his site and you will have more training knowledge than half the members here. I would recommend the beginner 5x5. Eat clean and make sure you get a lot of protein and not too may sweets. Cardio is fine but don't go to crazy. You really shouldn't focus on cutting. You can't flex bone. Get stronger, eat healthy, and put on some more muscle. The fat loss will follow. Good luck.

 

[ultra_extreme]

At 14 just focus on developing a good base. Try to get involved in athletic events, swimming will do your body the world of good, give you big wide shoulders to pack muscle onto later. You CANT put much muscle on at your age, well you could with steroids but that would be about the dumbest thing you could ever do. So you need to make peace with the fact that your body cannot physiologically hold much muscle yet. So dont get all focused on big biceps and such just yet. If there was one thing i would go back and tell myself at 14 from me now at 24 it would be to eat a better diet and get involved in more sports. It will leave you naturally athletic and make your later development a lot easier.

 

[ExtraMile]

Allright, a few questions following that..
Most people said to concentrate on the core, compound exercises, im guessing your mean military press, squat, bentover row, bench and deadlift? Cant i add in other things like 21's but at the end of say a back workout, when i wouldnt be able to go heavy because my arms would be wankered already?
Also, should i do cardio everyday? Only on workout days or on all the other days i dont workout? How long should the cardio be? And what weights program should i follow and for how long?

Thanks alot.

 

[SaiBoT]

Allright, a few questions following that..
Most people said to concentrate on the core, compound exercises, im guessing your mean military press, squat, bentover row, bench and deadlift? Cant i add in other things like 21's but at the end of say a back workout, when i wouldnt be able to go heavy because my arms would be wankered already?
Also, should i do cardio everyday? Only on workout days or on all the other days i dont workout? How long should the cardio be? And what weights program should i follow and for how long?

Thanks alot.

Add chin-ups, paralel bars dips and across the bench pull-over to the list, I don't know how everybody else feels about pull-overs, but I find them responsible (along chin-ups)for my lat spread you may see as my avatar. Make sure you do them at full range of motion all the time and when you start getting good at it and you manage to do like let us say 12reps you can add weight to a belt and start doing weighted chins and dips.

Please don't fall on the temptation of doing more weight than you are capable of. Once you can do 5 reps with max weight for the big three(bench, squat and Dl) don't increase the weight just yet, wait a couple of weeks with that same weight and try to get more reps (like eight) then you may increase by 5-10lbs, be patient you are young, Imagine if you can increase the poundages every month by 5-10 lbs after two years it would be something between 120-240lbs more on squats, deadlifts and bench, at 16 yo you would be tough dude and still very young uhhh!!!

About cardio I think you should do like team sports, or other social activity, because I think bodybuilding is more egocentric and you will need to get some social skills to be ready to face the world when you are old enough. Plus you can show off your stuff to the girls by doing cardio outdoors, it's cool and not boring as if you were on a stationary bike talking to youself. And don't worry about the cardio length just yet, simple do it. As long as you eat well you will do more than fine mate.

 

[Big_BK]

Lots of good info here. I'll repeat whats already been said. Consistency. Make sure you don't miss any meals or training sessions, that is what separates the big guys from the guys who show up and do the same weight each week.

 

[ExtraMile]

Allright, so your sayin my weeks worth of exercises should consist of pull overs, chin ups, dips, bent over rows, squats, deadlifts, military press and bench press. No CGBP, no skulls, no curls just the big 5 and those 3? What sort of split should i do? Somthing like:
Monday - Squats 5x8, Romanian deadlift 4x10, dips 3xfailure, bench 4x10
Tuesday - 20-40 mins cardio. Core strength work.
Wednesday - Bent Over Row 5x8, Chins 4xfailure, deadlifts 4x10, pullovers 3x10.
Thursday - football training, 1 hour. Core stength work.
Friday - Military Press 5x8, Squat 4x8, chins 3xfailure, pullovers 4x10
Saturday - 20-40mins cardio. Core strength work

Thats 16 differant sets per day and up to two hours 20mins of cardio per week.

Do that till xmas then and see how i go? & Can i pm you for questions as im goin through? Then at xmas start to slowly adding in a few other exercises like shrugs and 21's ?

 

[SaiBoT]

Try this
Monday- Squats 5x5-8 DeadLifts 3x8 Dips 5x8 Pull ups Workout A
Wednesday-Bench Press 5x5-8 pull-over 3x8 one arm db row 3x8 Shoulder(Bradford) Press (which is one rep to the front and one behind 4reps each) 4x8 Workout B
Friday-Repeat Workout A

Next week start by the workout B then A then B and repeat for the following weeks, it might do you some good if up your reps some times (up to 12) and cycle low and high reps that way.

Don't worry about specific arm training even with just squats and deadlifts your whole body would grow, arms included! I can see you are a big fan of 21's so if you wanna do them once in a while afer pull ups.

Those cardio activities are good, swimming is also great.

Send me a PM anytime you like. Make a e-log and post us with your results, maybe some pics too.

 

[ExtraMile]

Yeah I love the pump from 21's

Urm OK so you mean like the first two months could go like this.

Week 1 Monday -A* Wednesday -B Friday -A
Week 2 Monday -B Wednesday -A* Friday -B
Week 3 Monday -A Wednesday -B Friday -A*
Week 4 Monday -B Wednesday -A Friday -B
Week 5 Monday -A* Wednesday -B Friday -A
Week 6 Monday -B Wednesday -A* Friday -B
Week 7 Monday -A Wednesday -B Friday -B*

*higher rep day

And would it do any harm if on squats I stayed doing 8+ reps and on bench doing 10 reps? Because I dont have a spotter or even a squat rack (lol) and just find it a bit dodgy when going really heavy on bench and squat...

And then last workouts of the months I could add a couple of other compound moves like close grip bench and 21's


Oh and alright, Ill start a topic, Put all my measurements and stats in then each workout day post like a review of the day and every 2 months re-post stats to measure improvement etc, Ill try and get some pics aswell.


Cheers for all the help man,

 

[SaiBoT]

Yeah I love the pump from 21's

Urm OK so you mean like the first two months could go like this.

Week 1 Monday -A* Wednesday -B Friday -A
Week 2 Monday -B Wednesday -A* Friday -B
Week 3 Monday -A Wednesday -B Friday -A*
Week 4 Monday -B Wednesday -A Friday -B
Week 5 Monday -A* Wednesday -B Friday -A
Week 6 Monday -B Wednesday -A* Friday -B
Week 7 Monday -A Wednesday -B Friday -B*

*higher rep day

And would it do any harm if on squats I stayed doing 8+ reps and on bench doing 10 reps? Because I dont have a spotter or even a squat rack (lol) and just find it a bit dodgy when going really heavy on bench and squat...

And then last workouts of the months I could add a couple of other compound moves like close grip bench and 21's


Oh and alright, Ill start a topic, Put all my measurements and stats in then each workout day post like a review of the day and every 2 months re-post stats to measure improvement etc, Ill try and get some pics aswell.


Cheers for all the help man,

Alrighty then. Your welcome and if you don't have spotter keep things on the safer zone for now and try to get one. Good luck

 

[ExtraMile]

Alright, Ill make the training journal tomorrow. Should I drop set bench because of the higher reps or just leave it? And just one more question, with the pullovers, dumbell or barbell?

 

[SaiBoT]

Alright, Ill make the training journal tomorrow. Should I drop set bench because of the higher reps or just leave it? And just one more question, with the pullovers, dumbell or barbell?

Leave the bench like that.

Pull-over with a dumbell between hands. Take a deep breath on the bottom and squeeze the pecs on top.

Oh AlWAYS check if the dumbell collars are tight and if the dumbell is ok. Once I saw a guy breaking is teeth and jaw bone because he failed to check on the safety of the dumbell. Be cautious all the time, with every exercise.

 

[ExtraMile]

Allright, thanks for all the info bro, ill keep you informed, the thing is, on pullovers my triceps hurt the most at the end...

 

[SaiBoT]

Mind muscle bro, mind muscle. Reduce the weight a bit try focus the tension and applying force through the lats and pecs. Keep a slight bend on the arms and the elbows outward to avoid trashing the tris too much.

 

[ExtraMile]

Allright, thanks bro. Diet wise, seen as im tryna loose bodyfat should i just try to keep fat intake low as possible, relatively high protein intake and just let the carbs follow with what i eat. My main sources of protein atm are(not ordered) eggs, milk (drink about 3pints a day) bacon, sausage, cheese (as a snack throughout the day, usually about 30g cheddar) and other meat like beef, pork, lamb but only evening meals and not everyday.

 

[SaiBoT]

Be carefull with sausages and bacons those are processed foods, often contain, preservatives, too much salt and saturated fat.

One thing, chicken breast meet extramile, extramile meet the almighty chicken breast. And fish boy... eat fish, actually I like sushi and sashimi, it's easy to digest protein and it has healthy fats.

 

[ExtraMile]

Allright well I only really use bacon+sausages in omlettes for breakfast but from now on would ham be a better choice or is it just as bad as bacon?

And when I do bent over rows, how important is it to squeeze the shoulder blades at the top? Because I can lift way more without sqeezing them, I get to a weight that I can row, pull it all the way up but cant get the squeeze in, should I decrease the weight or not?

 

[SaiBoT]

Allright well I only really use bacon+sausages in omlettes for breakfast but from now on would ham be a better choice or is it just as bad as bacon?

And when I do bent over rows, how important is it to squeeze the shoulder blades at the top? Because I can lift way more without sqeezing them, I get to a weight that I can row, pull it all the way up but cant get the squeeze in, should I decrease the weight or not?

Switch it to smoked turkey breast.

I didn't include bent over rows on the routine. Nevertheless if you wanna do them, you have to use a weight that allows to squeeze the shoulder blades for 8-10 good reps, only then you can increase the poundages. Anyway I think you should stick to one arm db version where you support yourself with knee and the non-working hand on a bench, it's safer at your age. No bouncing or swinging pleazz.